STEP-BD is the largest treatment study conducted for bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness. STEP-BD completed its data collection on September 30, 2005, with a total enrollment of 4361 participants and is no longer enrolling participants. The investigators are now actively working with the extensive STEP-BD database to answer important questions about the course of bipolar disorder and best approaches for treatment and management of this disorder. If you haven’t already participated, please see the link to the STEP-BD Genetics Studies (on the Public Information page). These studies are still active, and will investigate the genetic basis of bipolar disorder.

If you were a participant in STEP-BD, thank you again for your important contribution to this groundbreaking research. By sharing your experience with bipolar disorder, your treatment response, and your quality of life during treatment, we have learned a substantial amount about the course of this illness, as well as treatment options. We hope to use these data to improve treatment standards for the more than 2 million other Americans with bipolar disorder.

You have entered a web site that describes an NIMH-funded collaborative study on the treatment of bipolar disorder. If you are seeking immediate help for treatment of bipolar disorder, we recommend that you contact your clinician or your nearest emergency room, try Medical Alert Systems and check symptoms. This web site is not set up to provide help or advice to individuals, nor to family members or friends of individuals with bipolar disorder.

This web site is created solely for the purposes of providing background information about the study and having researchers provide input to the design.

This web site does not provide a chat room and individual queries will not receive a response. Any message posted on this web site is not confidential.